


in a sky full of stars

by Skyevaheri



Series: exchange gifts [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Bittersweet, Feels, Gen, M/M, Romantic Soulmates, Third Gym (Haikyuu!!), bokuaka cameo, is it angst i honestly dont know, little manga spoilers at the end, who needs soulmarks when you can have FIRE
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:40:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28214097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyevaheri/pseuds/Skyevaheri
Summary: In a world where soulmates find each other by spontaneously combusting in flames, Tsukishima Kei does not believe in such myths and Kuroo Tetsurou can't wait to find his.Theme: Fire
Relationships: Kuroo Tetsurou/Tsukishima Kei
Series: exchange gifts [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2066880
Comments: 4
Kudos: 55





	in a sky full of stars

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CaptainJosten](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainJosten/gifts).



> This work is a gift in this years exchange event for my wonder wonder wonderful dear coachi, the one who started the best [HQ!! discord server](https://discord.gg/mHsD3uu) ever!! This time the theme was Fire (in contrast to the other exchange this year where the theme was Ice)  
> I am not a big Kurotsukki shipper myself, but I know how much coachi loves them, so I did my best!  
> I recommend listening to [this](https://youtu.be/JJpyJzubQBE) while reading! (It makes the fic hit different)  
> Dear coachi, I hope you like it! Have fun reading! _I know it's not as soft as you probably wanted but apparently all I can write the last months is angst :(_  
>  Much love, skyie

**_in a sky full of stars_ **

_They say love is like fire. They say it burns bright and hot and devours everything in its wake. They say it starts slowly, a little itch under your skin when you take a look at them. They say fire is the way to find your soulmate. They say your soulmate is the only one being able to bring you the fire. To make you feel warm, safe, secure. Fire is life. Fire means warmth. Fire brings love._  
_They say when you meet your soulmate, you are a lucky bastard. Seize the chance you have. Fire only comes once in a lifetime. Take it and flourish._

_~~~_

When Tsukishima Kei first noticed Kuroo Tetsurou, he wore his black Karasuno jersey, freshly washed, the smell of his moms detergent drifting in his nose, ready to start with their first practice match.   
The captain of Nekoma stalked through the gym, following behind Sawamura-san, pestering him with cheeky cheshire grins, the hair falling unruly into his eyes. Tsukishima had never seen his captain so annoyed, even though only the frequency of his eyebrow twitching betrayed his otherwise calm demeanor.   
Tsukishima continued to watch the new player, not able to tear his gaze away. It may have been the way the dark eyes gleamed under the bright lights of these irritating lamps on the ceiling. It may have been the way the other moved, lazy strides like a cat patrolling around their territory, sure enough. Or it may have been something else entirely.   
His left hand started to itch. 

~~~

When Kuroo Tetsurou first noticed Tsukishima Kei, he stood on the court, next to the net. Tsukishima had his hands neatly folded behind his back, the placement pulling his jersey firm against his chest. Just a first year. Not so eager to begin the match, according to the disinterested look on his face.   
While their player numbers were being written down on the score sheets to fix the starting formations of each team, Kuroo let his gaze roam free over the other.   
Tall, blonde, gorgeous. Glasses perched high on the straight nose, locks of this unusual color framing a slim face. Long limbs, but without the lean bulk of muscle Kuroo had seen on other blockers. Ah, youth.   
To be young again, he thought. He’d definitely wouldn’t make such a face. If the kid didn’t stop scrunching his eyebrows together, he’d get premature wrinkles. Now those would be such a waste on this pretty face.   
The moment his eyes took one look at Tsukishima Kei, his right hand started tingling. 

~~~ 

_They say soulmates don’t recognize each other by a world turning in color or first words or intricate symbols ranking over skin. These are fairytales._  
_Love burns like fire. And like fire, it starts slow, small, but there all the same. They say it starts with an itch somewhere on your body. Some say that’s where your soulmate will first touch you._  
_Finding the other is a rare occurrence. It starts slow, small, and only when you are in their vicinity, and often it is dismissed as something else entirely. After all, the itch vanishes when two go their separate ways._

_~~~_

Tsukishima Kei didn’t believe in soulmates. Why would he, when there was no real evidence of them. All you heard were those legends, stories of fallen stars and how divided pieces searched for each other, only to start a fire in the people they inhabitated.   
Frankly, he believed for those to be total bullshit. His parents liked to share these tales with him and Akiteru, when they were younger more often than now.   
Akiteru had felt the itch twice in his life, he said. Their parents were ecstatic, urging him to follow it, but as soon as his brother heard it, his eyes took on the closed off glaze he often wore in highschool and didn’t answer.   
Tsukishima still didn’t believe in soulmates, even with his brother in front of his nose. Maybe that’s why he didn’t bother. He saw how Akiteru hurt, even if he gave his best to not let anyone know.   
It was better to not believe in order to save yourself. 

~~~

Kuroo Tetsurou loved the stories about soulmates. His dad did, too. Kenma, his neighbor, best friend and basically adopted brother, not so much. He still had a silent ongoing vendetta against Kuroos mother for giving up on her son and her husband, for telling them she felt flames burning up her arm when she met another man and left.   
Kuroo disliked his mother for this as well. But he couldn’t fault her. Who was he, prohibiting a woman feeling flames spreading warmth from leaving an already dysfunctional marriage.   
His dad was happier now. It was the way his eyes lit up whenever he did something he liked, the unruly dark hair he passed on to his child falling in his face, making him look 15 years younger in a mischievous way.   
Kenma – well. Kenma didn’t particularly care about soulmate stories. They just brought pain and pain was energy wasted on something that wasn’t video games, the only thing Kenma really cared about, and, once Kuroo dragged him into volleyball, volleyball. He was a lost cause, honestly. 

~~~ 

_The legend about falling stars is as old as time itself. They say when earth was created, the starry sky lit up as in greeting. They say the sky send a downpour of stars, for gifting the inhabitants with fire, life and warmth. They say the stars split up, to coat the whole planet with their dust, some pieces bigger, some smaller._  
_They say soulmates bear these pieces of broken stars in them. Protecting them, warming them. Leading them to find the other piece of broken star that is somewhere on this earth._

~~~

When Tsukishima Kei met Kuroo Tetsurou for the second time, Karasuno had just lost their ticket to Nationals. Losing against Aoba Johsai hurt, even when it shouldn’t. Volleyball was just a club. It wasn’t supposed to hurt this much.   
Karasuno went on a drive all the way down to Tokyo, to visit Nekoma, the school who already beat the shit out of them in April, on an invitation to join a weekend training camp with other teams from a school association. If he was being honest, he didn’t want to go. Meeting so many new people was exhausting.   
At least they left those two pea-brains behind, so the bus drive was relatively quiet, besides the occasional spike in noise by Tanaka-san and Nishinoya-san, quickly silenced by Ennoshita-san, who just had to clear his throat once for them to shut their trap.   
Once they arrived in the gym, his gaze was inevitably drawn to Kuroo Tetsurou. The captain of Nekoma wore his red jersey, the one with the black stripes, accentuating the wideness of his shoulders and making them look broader as he went for a block, shutting down a boy in a white and black shirt with light hair, who went on to spit out several curses right after the ball hit the ground.   
The smile that stretched across Kuroos face send a shiver down Tsukishimas spine. And his left hand began to tickle.   
(He had forgotten that happened last time. After their game was over, they had given proper Goodbye’s and Thank you’s and left for the changing room. The itch had stopped by then and wasn’t on his mind anymore. Now it returned, in full force.)   
Goddamnit. 

~~~

Kuroo Tetsurou didn’t see Tsukishima Kei. He felt him.   
His right hand, the one who took the main force of the spike from Konoha, started tingling and itching a split second after the ball hit the ground. It felt weird. Normally, both his hands felt numb after blocking, but this time only the right one tingled and not only the palm, but the whole hand. Oh well, it did take the brunt.   
He shrugged it off.   
Except it didn’t stop after the match was done, when Karasuno was properly greeted and introduced, and they settled in for the night.   
Kuroo shoved his hand into Yakus face, complaining about the itch that spread from his hand over his arm, not curable by scratching, the skin already lightly reddened from his finger nails. The libero cursed and pushed the intruding hand away, not bothering with indulging his captain. Grumbling, Kuroo made his way over to his vice.   
Kai, however, was more of the indulgable sort, and he listened to Kuroos whining quietly for five minutes, before he held up a hand to get a word in. Kuroo, who was currently in the midst of describing how he was going to peel off his skin at this rate, stopped. Kai smiled, one of those smiles where you didn’t know if he was secretly laughing at you or plotting your murder, and said: “You should go see a doctor”   
Before Kuroo could come up with an halfway acceptable answer, Kai continued. “Perhaps you have a pinched nerve or something of the like. I’d go check it up”   
And that was that.   
Kuroo went to visit a doctor the week after. It came to no surprise to him that there was nothing wrong with his hand. He was already suspicious at the end of that weekend, when Karasuno had packed their bags and their bus left the parking lot, almost all players pressed against the windows, a mix of big grins and enthusiastic waves, and his arm had stopped tingling once the car was out of view.   
Pinched nerve, as if. Kai would get an earful the next day.   
Kuroo didn’t dare to consider the other possibility the tingling might bring.   
(That was a lie. He did. He squealed when it first hit him.) It was too big of a chance. How could it be real? How could it be him of all things?   
He needed to collect more data on this. Make it make sense.   
The next day, he went to his coach, to request a change in their annual Training camp week.

~~~

_They say soulmates are rare._  
_Even though there were myriads of stars falling on earth, the possibility of carrying a piece of this dust was small._  
_So, they say, take your chance when you feel the fire._

_~~~_

When Karasuno arrived for their very first real Training camp - the Golden Week did not count, whatever the one pea brain said - it was hot. The temperatures had risen rapidly, and Tsukishima was glad the gym had a working air conditioning system. Sweat from playing volleyball mixing with sweat produced by just being in a hot area was absolutely gross and, thanks to the richer city schools, one thing less he had to worry about. (Just how unfair was that? They needed an air conditioner at Karasuno too. Desperately.)   
The main thing on his mind was his left hand. After he felt that particular tingle last time they had met Nekoma, he paid special attention to the limb, tracing it with his eyes, looking for signs of hurt. It prickled all weekend long, but soon after they departed from Tokyo, it stopped as quickly as it started.   
His thoughts wandered over to an injury but he honestly didn’t know where he possibly could’ve gotten that. All his blocks were fine, he didn’t sprain a finger. So why, why was the hand tingling like someone had severed the blood stream to his hand and left it there with a spreading numbness that cut off just as quickly as it appeared?   
He should keep an eye on that hand. The preliminaries would start in a few weeks and playing with an injured hand, even for two or three games, was not something he’d like to experience.   
Tsukishima was sure his hand wasn’t tingling before he set foot in the gym. So why, for fucks sake, why was it now that he walked through the large doors?   
It didn’t stop over time. Instead, it got worse.   
After two days, the sensation had spread up his arm, now engulfing the entire left limb, prickling like ants running over the skin, and even worse, it seemed to get more intense whenever they played Nekoma.   
Tsukishima wasn’t Tsukishima if he didn’t notice this connection. After three other rounds of losing against them and consequently, the punishment consisting of flying falls, he considered asking Coach Ukai to sit the next sets out. His blocks suffered from the numbness. 

~~~

Kuroo needed to get closer. The few sets they played against Karasuno a day helped him set up a hypothesis of Tsukishima Kei maybe being his soulmate, since his right arm (it was the arm now! It spread!!) continued feeling like set on fire without the burns, of course, whenever he faced the blonde at the net. Other times, when they only lingered around the gym, playing against the other teams or sitting around on break and just being in each others vicinity, the numbness was there, sure. But it wasn’t as pronounced as on the court.   
He needed an excuse to touch Tsukishima. Just to be sure.   
Seeing how exclusive the other player was even around his own team, that would be a piece of work.   
So he observed. Openly staring in his break, from his place propped up against the gym wall, claiming to Yaku he was just ‘noticing Karasunos quick progress and how they might turn into a real threat soon’ instead of admitting, yes, he was staring at the blonde first year because that would be taken as borderline creepy, wasn’t it. Or at least Yaku would turn it around to make it look that way, the bastard. Or from the sides of his eyes, trying to take in as much info about the other as he could.   
Lanky. High reach. Good observer. Did not fall for faints often.   
And seemingly had troubles with his blocks at the moment.   
It took him a moment to process that. Kuroo felt like an obvious chance like this had to slap him across the face to get noticed, honestly. He had his opening. Finally. 

~~~

  
  
_The moment soulmates touch for the first time, a flame will be visible._  
_Not only for the couple, but for everyone around them. It will burn high and strong, to notify the bond that has been stretched for so far and now has found their partner. However, a soulmates flame will never disappear. As long as they live and touch, their bond shall be visible in burning flame._

~~~  


When the captain of Nekoma asked Tsukishima to help him block against Fukurodanis ace, he thought it was a joke. Why would a Third Year ask a mere First Year to assist with blocking. It was just – it couldn’t be true.   
Apparently, it was true.   
So he found himself standing in front of the net again two minutes later, just with different people he wouldn’t have thought to play with and not against.   
Akaashi Keiji, Fukurodanis setter and babysitter for his ace, who was one year older and still behaved like he could belong in middle, or also fitting, elementary school with the tantrums he threw whenever he missed a spike, wore the same facial expression Tsukishima did: like he was roped into extra practice and was just enduring at this rate.   
Although, Tsukishima, deep down, felt – well. How did he feel? There was this strange warmth in his chest and his heart kept doing these ridiculous somersaults when Kuroo (and how fitting was that name, really) gave a comment on his block or smiled, no, smirked at him, and he was not ready for this.   
He was painfully aware of the little distance between them, necessary to block Bokuto, Tsukishima on the outer side, blocking the way for a straight hit whereas Kuroo took care of the cross shots. Their arms nearly touched multiple times, and it send a wave of shivers through his body, which he tried to hide by playing them off. He wasn’t sure over the effectiveness though, because he could swear he saw Akaashi quickly smirk at him whenever he tried to side-eye Kuroo.   
It happened after one spike didn’t properly deflected from his hands but slipped through the small space between his chest and the net to drop on the ground. Tsukishima clicked his tongue. Now this was a nuisance. Maybe his arms weren’t sticking together properly.   
Kuroo next to him snickered at Tsukishimas sour expression. He hesitated for a short moment, then said: “You’re not placing your hands correctly. And you need to concentrate the force of your block in your fingers. Your hands do most, if not all of the work. Here, let me show you”   
When Kuroo took Tsukishimas left hand with his right, they gasped. The tingling sensation had been there all the time during the training session, but now it exploded.   
Light burst from their connected hands, bright enough to make them close their eyes. When they opened them after a few seconds, the tingling finally absent, replaced with the magnificent feeling of nothing, the light was gone.   
Not gone, exactly. Instead there was a blazing flame, flickering up their arms, a deep orange color mixed with red accents, strongest at their connected hands.   
It was silent in the gym.   
Tsukishima felt like his brain stopped working, he couldn’t move a muscle. All the little shivers from Kuroo, the excitement deeply buried in his core, gone. All he felt was emptiness. No.   
It couldn’t be. Not for him.   
He knew Kuroo next to him held his breath. Bokuto and Akaashi on the other side of the net stared at the flames, the reflection of the fire shining in their eyes.   
Tsukishima looked at the flames flickering across his skin, not feeling a burn. Because this wasn’t just a normal fire. No, this was the star brought fire only known in showing up at a soulmates reunion, the separated stars finally finding each other again. It didn’t hurt the bearers.   
But it hurt to look at.   
Finally, he regained some sense of feeling in his body. With a small cry, he ripped away his hand from Kuroos grip, the flames stifling immediately. The tingle returned in full force, practically begging him to place his hand on his soulmates hand again and to let it rejoice.   
Instead, Tsukishima turned around and ran.   
No one came after him. 

~~~

Kuroo felt numb. He stared at his hand, that had been engulfed in living flames just a few seconds before. It felt weirdly cold, like all the warmth had been taken when Tsukishima ripped his hand away and the fire dimmed.   
Why did he run away? They finally found each other! It was time to laugh and celebrate and feel happy, because two long lost souls found their opposite again! (It definitely was not time to run away and prevent facing all the stuff that came with matching star pieces.)   
Kuroo didn’t know why Tsukishima ran away. Had it been something he said? Had he been not nice enough? Too intense?   
He continued to stare at his outstretched hand like it contained all the answers to his many questions, like it would magically spell out all he wanted to know.   
“Why didn’t you run after him?”   
The question broke the silence that had taken place ever since Kuroo took Tsukishimas hand. It felt like an eternity. It probably only were a few seconds, a minute tops. But it felt like all time had stopped since that warmth was gone. He wanted to feel it again, so so so badly.   
Kuroo clenched his hand.   
“Hello?? Earth to Kuroo!!” Someone’s hand was waving in front of his face frantically. Kuroo ignored it.   
He needed to find Tsukishima and talk to him.   
He missed the fire already. 

~~~

_They say you don’t have to stay with the one bringing out your fire._  
_They say some are content with just knowing someone is out there, matched to their star piece. They don’t need more._

_~~~_

Tsukishima didn’t know how he made it back from the gym to the showers and - after rubbing his hand and arm with water like it could somehow extinguish the fire that wasn’t burning there anymore but he still could see before his inner eye - to Karasunos sleeping quarters.   
Yamaguchi next to him had already fallen asleep, too tired to keep his eyes open any minute longer than necessary from all the serve practice he did with the players of Ubugawa. The rest of the team was fast asleep as well. The pea brains bed rolls were empty though. No surprise there.   
He took off his glasses and placed them on his gym bag at the end of his bed roll. For safety reasons.   
When Tsukishima finally found a comfortable position on his improvised bed (it took a while because he couldn’t bear the thought of laying on his left side and to his dismay, that was his favored side to sleep on, darnit), he couldn’t fall asleep. He laid there, eyes open, not seeing anything in the darkness, his ears picking up the soft breaths of his teammates. Thank goodness they didn’t snore.   
In the dark, it was hard to keep the image of the burning flame out of mind. It shoved right through his barrier and onto his focus, a force refusing to be ignored.   
Helplessly, all Tsukishima could do was look at that fire over and over again, the way it started at his hand, flickering to life at the fingers, then circling around his wrist, higher to the elbow and nearly up to his shoulder when he regained mobility and ripped his hand away to stop this madness.   
It really didn’t hurt, like the tales of old said. His limb had felt warm, but that also might’ve been from the exercise.   
The physical aspect of having a soulmate wasn’t so bad, he guessed. Aside from all the tingling and numbing whenever you were in each other vicinity and didn’t touch.   
The emotional aspect, however… Tsukishima would never forget the way his brother broke when he saw his soulmates accidently touching and producing flames .. without him.   
The look of a broken heart on his face, a scream not voiced, the silence saying more than thousand words. The way he held his hands dear to his chest, as if Akiteru was afraid someone would come and steal the only thing he had taken pride in: his soulmates.   
Tsukishima remembered the day he caught Akiteru crying in their wardrobe, rolled together in a ball, shivering and shaking, his shirt already drenched with tears and snot, just a mere hour after his soulmates had first – accidently – produced fire with each other.   
As much as Tsukishima didn’t believe in star sought soulmates – he had to, now, hadn’t he – he had heard his fair share of soulmate tales. His parents had been his primary source of those. He remembered them saying how a soul pair was formed by two people. If a third was somehow to be found, very rare, they wouldn’t fit in. A pair had two star pieces. Stars didn’t just split thrice.   
Except when they apparently did.   
Tsukishima didn’t tell his parents how Akiteru had two souls bound to him, but without them knowing. Akiteru didn’t tell them either. Akiteru also didn’t elaborate his feelings to his little brother.   
So Tsukishima had no choice to see his older brother suffer, see the light in his eyes dimmish as the years went on and on and he couldn’t get over his star sought bond.   
That was when Tsukishima decided to not believe in soulmates anymore. Because all they did was bring destruction.   
It took him an eternity to fall asleep. But when he did, he dreamed of burning flames and a cheshire grin. 

_~~~_

_But some need more. Maybe without knowing, they say._

_~~~_

Kuroo laid awake the whole night. Whenever he dared to close his eyes, he wouldn’t see the welcomed dark, but the bright fire that burned up his and Tsukishimas arm.   
And then followed the run his soulmate had made for the doors, hectic, as if trying to get as quickly as possible away from him.   
He ran after Tsukishima, after being shaken out of his shock by Bokuto and Akaashi, who looked ready to kill a man, but it was already too late. The blonde was nowhere to be seen.   
Kuroo assumed he found refugee in the Karasuno quarters, that one classroom they had cleaned up before for them to take place in. He considered following Tsukishima there, but then he probably would have to deal with Sawamura and Sugawara and they way those two behaved very much like concerned parents.   
Besides, with the way his soulmate reacted to the flames shooting up their arms, it might be better to talk to him in private, and not drag him out of the room for his whole team to witness.  
So Kuroo had settled down in the Nekoma quarters.   
Laying there on his futon, the covers pushed down to his hips because damn this heat, it was way too hot to be acceptable for a training camp, even at night.   
Yakus snores rung through the room.   
He should’ve felt that sound as a comforting distraction from his thoughts, being used to it after three long years of companionship, but today, it didn’t help him at all. It did not lure him into sleep.  
At this point, Kuroo doubted anything could put him to sleep. It was pretty much useless.   
Before his inner eye, the flames popped out again. The way Tsukishimas face distorted in shock and disbelief. And then the moment he ripped his hand away and bolted.   
It hurt so incredibly much. Was this a rejection? It must be, right? Who didn’t react with joy when they found their soulmate?   
Kuroo couldn’t think of a reason why Tsukishima refused. Was he scared, maybe? He had to admit, it was a really big deep cut into one’s life and it did turn worlds around. For fricks sake, the guy was 15. There wouldn’t be any shame in admitting it was too early.   
Still. That short moment of shared flames was wonderful, and the feeling of having it stolen away was absolutely awful. Was that how his mom felt when she found her own soulmate but realized she had to abandon her marriage first? That feeling of being so close to your luck but there was this big hurdle right in front of you?   
Maybe, Kuroo thought, maybe I understand mom a bit better now.

~~~

The next day, Tsukishima started to avoid Kuroo like his life depended on it.   
Kuroo, on the other hand, tried to use every opportunity he got to get Tsukishima to talk.   
It was a very obvious cat-and-mouse game that did not went unnoticed by their teams.  
Whenever Kuroo moved closer to Karasunos favored spot to spent their break in, Tsukishima ignored every sign of his presence and started an intense discussion with Yamaguchi and Yachi. (It even pained him to admit he talked to Hinata and Kageyama out of his free will to avoid Kuroos advances. He must be sick or something.)  
Around midday, when Sawamura spied Kuroo stealing around their designated spot at that one wall for the sixth time that day, he had enough. With crossed arms and slightly squinted eyes, he faced the other captain and asked what the hell he had on his agenda to loiter around all the time.   
To be fair, Sawamura in suspicious mode was scary, so Tsukishima had to supress a laugh when he saw Kuroo santering away followed by Tanakas and Nishinoyas growls, after he gave a not very convincing answer of wanting to ‘pester your lot, Sawamura, you guys are so easy to rile up’.  
Kuroo did not return that day to talk to him.

However, and Tsukishima wasn’t sure if that was acutally worse, Bokuto came sauntering over. Hinata had instant stars in his eyes, but Tsukishima just tried to not look at the Ace, who was now booming with his outdoor voice: “Tsukkiiiii, come block for me again later!!”  
“No thank you. I’m tired.”  
Hinata, who had watched the short exchange between the two players with wide eyes, envy clear shimmering in them, couldn’t shut his trap: “Bokuto-san, can I block for you instead? Tsukishima is very weird today!!”  
The blonde threw him a pointed glare. This guy, for real.  
Bokuto laughed (and even that was way too loud for indoors): “Sure, kiddo. But I really want glasses to come too!”  
He fixed his big, gleaming eyes on Tsukishima. It’s a trap. It’s a trap, don’t fall for it. Kuroo asked him to do it. Don’t agree. You’ll only hurt yourself. Don’t…  
Tsukishima stared back. How could he say yes now. He did not want to talk to Kuroo.   
Yet, he could feel his mouth moving on its own accord.   
“Okay, I’ll help.”

~~~

That evening the third gym was emptied from most players but filled with Bokutos excited chatter about more practice. Akaashis dry answers mostly fell onto deaf ears, especially when Kuroo continued to fuel Bokutos energy with complete bullshit he felt spouting from his mouth.  
He was frickin nervous, alright. It had been almost 24 hours since the revelation.   
All this time, his heart had felt so heavy and sad, he didn’t know how to handle it all. How to handle it in the near future, if Tsukishima still refused to acknowledge the bond.  
Bokuto had helped him rope his soulmate into practice tonight again. Apparently, he had also picked up Karasunos shrimp, but that would be manageable. Kuroo just needed to talk to Tsukishima alone.   
So far, the two first years hadn’t turned up yet. Therefore, Kuroo and Lev, of all people (how he escaped Yakus fangs was a mystery but this one should really need to learn how to block, so it was alright. Except for the fact that he did not want Lev to spy on his confession to Tsukishima.), Bokuto and Akaashi were playing a little 2 on 2 (Lev sucked. They were 14 points behind the Fukurodani players. Shit.).  
Kuroo tried to ban the nervousness creeping up his limbs and making his muscles turn to stone. This wasn’t exactly helping calm his nerves.   
Bokuto twisted his hands into the net separating them. “Look man, I know you’re nervous, but maybe you should try to chill out? You look worse than that time Konoha had food poisoning.”  
Kuroo heard Lev snort. Oh, he would pay for that, just you wait until I tell Yaku were you went. He grinded his teeth. Unfortunately, Bokuto was most probably right. The fact that he didn’t sleep the whole night and had his mind running over the same things again and again like a broken cassette had left its marks: dark circles under the eyes, a tired look and hair that did not stick up like usual (it was actually flattened in some parts).   
Who cared.  
Then-   
“Thanks for letting us join, Bokuto-san!!!”  
“….thanks”  
He was here.

~~~

They played a 3 on 3. Tsukishima wasn’t sure if he should be terrified of the idea of Kuroo being on his team, or really damn happy. Terrified won over, even though the happiness made a big ruckus, but eventually settled down again in the depths of his ‘Things I don’t want to talk about’ mental folder.   
Because their team did not have a setter, their main artillery in earning points were blocks, trying to stop Bokutos and Hinatas attacks.   
In the game, Tsukishima and Kuroo did not touch again. Not even accidently; they stayed totally clear of each other. Tsukishima was thankful for that. He did not want a repetition of yesterday, especially with Hinata and Lev there, being noisy and able to keep their mouths shut. If they would get a whiff of the flames, the entire training camp would know it come next morning. 

The extra practice was over quickly. As they began to pile out of the gym to get some leftover food from the cafeteria, Tsukishima felt a tug on his shirt from behind. He turned around to find Kuroo looking at him with a serious expression on his handsome face.   
“We need to talk.”

~~~

In the end, they talked for hours.   
Night had fallen quickly, and they sat on the grass hill the teams used for their punishments.   
The grass was soft to the touch, finally a little cooled down after the hot temperatures over day.   
Kuroo told Tsukishima the story of his mom abandoning him and his dad because she found her soulmate and couldn’t bear to live in a shattered marriage. How he still believed in the magic of starbound partners, a miracle created by the heavens.   
Tsukishima, in turn, told him about his brother, who had two soulmates, who had to watch them be happy with each other, but never finding out about the supposed third part in their relationship, and consequently the shattering of his brother. How seeing him fall apart, suffering more and more, and not being able to help made him suspicious of the bond to this day, with the power of destructing a fully functioning human to only a shadow of their own self.  
Tsukishima shared his fear of being left alone, like his brother, of abandonment.   
Kuroo shared his fear of his partner not being confident enough to stay with him.   
They talked and talked and with every minute the trust between them grew. Slow steps. They had all the time they needed.   
Over them, a shooting star shot across the sky.   
Kuroo turned to Tsukishima, who watched the falling star with something like awe on his face. “What did you wish for?”  
Tsukishima smirked. “If I told you, it wouldn’t work anymore.”  
“Alriiiiiiight, I’ll tell you mine then! I wished for you to- hmpf” A hand quickly placed over his mouth stopped the sentence.   
“Don’t say it. It won’t work anymore if you do.”   
They couldn’t stop the smiles spreading on their faces. (They didn’t try.)  
And when the moon appeared from behind the cloud he had been hiding and the stars shone in the darkness, their hands themselves other to hold the other softly. The trickling flame shone brighter than the celestial bodies over them, a small beacon of a growing hope.

~~~

_They say love is like fire. They say your soulmate is the only one being able to bring you the fire. To make you feel warm, safe, secure. Fire is life. Fire means warmth. Fire brings love._  
_They say when you meet your soulmate, you are a lucky bastard. Seize the chance you have. Fire only comes once in a lifetime. Take it and flourish._

_~~~_

_A few years later…_

Kei sat in the stands of the Kamei Arena of Sendai, placing his backpack on the seat next to him to keep it free. Tadashi and Hitoka should turn up soon, but they wouldn’t be taking this particular seat.   
Kei smiled at the thought of watching this fated match with him. It had been a while since they had time to do something together, properly. Kei had been kept busy by university and the Division 2 league games, Tetsurou by his job at the JVA.   
But today, today they would make it.   
When a person in a dark suit plopped down next to him, black hair styled in a way that suggested there may have been a try of taming it, Kei smiled. There he was.   
And when he turned his head and met the dark, glistening eyes of his boyfriend, a warm feeling spread through his body. It started in the left hand, like the tickle all those years ago.   
Kei gently took Tetsurous right hand with his left, and watched the flames sprung to life. Like they always did when they touched.   
The whispers around them rose when more and more people noticed the fire flickering peacefully over their united hands.  
The flames rose in size when Kei greeted Tetsurou with a soft kiss to the lips. 

_Fire only comes once in a lifetime. Take it and flourish_. 


End file.
